What Lizard is This? (PICS!!)

Hi Everyone,

I live in South San Francisco, CA (San Mateo County) and my uncle who lives a few blocks away found this lizard standing on his slippers in the garage.

He picked it up and put it in a plastic jar for my little cousins to eyeball before he set it free, but I felt so bad for the little guy that I put him into a 70 gallon enclosure that I had lying around with lots of bark and climbing areas in the middle, rocks on the corners, a hide log, a water dish, and branches my little cousins added in because they wanted to be helpful . I want to make sure he'll be eating right and fatten up a bit before we decide to let him go.

So... what is it? I looked around and I'm assuming it's a Western Fence Lizard, but I want to be sure so I know what else to feed him other than med-size dusted crickets. He does NOT have any blue on the throat or abdomen.

Thank you

- Aimee


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Alligator Lizard, not sure on the latin. Crickets and mealworms should be fine.

Yes. Alligator Lizard, they sparked my intrest in reptiles as a child here in Southern California. I kept many of them

Thank you for helping me identify this little guy (or girl, I'll try to sex it later this afternoon when I get home)! It was fun to watch him walk all over the tank with my little cousins jumping around in excitement. They've seen and held my previous reptiles, but this one we'll be keeping at my grandparent's house (where the kids stay after school).

I did some research on it and it seems like it'd be pretty easy to take care. I'll be buying some reptile soil/bark later tonight in case it wants to shed I'll be teaching the little ones about the alligator lizard so they don't mess with it or anything and they know I'll be the only one feeding it. Hehe.

This is a great start to moving back into my South San Francisco home. My San Francisco apartment lease is up (they said NO PETS, so I gave away all my leopard geckos, russian tortoise, and beardie last year) and this has definitely re-sparked my interest in reptiles. Thank goodness I have a supportive boyfriend who understands that I need reptiles around. Hehe.

THANKS AGAIN, I appreciate the help in ID'ing this lizard! This is my first time actually seeing one, so hopefully I can find another one to put in the 70g tank with it!